USA Today Plans Venture Into Television

USA Today will venture into the world of cable television with a weekly half-hour TV show that focuses on a kinder, more inspirational side of sports.

USA Today Live, a division of Gannett, will be responsible for the editorial content of "USA Today Sports Page." New York-based media consultants Sverdlik Brady LLC will handle distribution and advertising for the show, which is set to begin in September.

The show will focus on sports news aimed at families, a segment that USA Today Live managing editor Lauren Ashburn believes is an under-served audience among TV sports franchises.

"It's going to focus on the enterprise and exclusive content that you can only find in the pages of USA Today--the uplifting stories, people that bring life to the paper," she says.

That connection to USA Today will be more than just sharing the name. Camera crews will accompany the USA Today reporter who is writing feature stories for the newspaper, and the reporter will appear on the air narrating the piece and interviewing people. The stories will be family-focused, and not the type of stories that sometimes fill the sports pages, like the ongoing Kobe Bryant saga.

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"That's not always appropriate for young children, and I believe it's not what people who love sports always want to hear about. We hope to provide profiles stories of players that will inspire younger athletes to greatness," Ashburn says.

Features will include the athletes discussing how they got started in sports and their role models when they were growing up. Other segments include "Locker Room," where a recent college graduate will interview athletes on sports-related and non-sports-related topics, and "Off the Page," which follows sports figures from the time they wake up until the time they go to bed.

"It's our nod to reality TV," Ashburn says.

A host and executive producer have not been picked yet. It's also not clear what channels, cable or broadcast, "USA Today Sports Page" will appear on.

"We believe that families with young children who play sports need an outlet for sports programming. We are hoping to provide that with this show. We want families--moms, dads, kids who play soccer, kids who play hockey and tennis, for example--to be able to sit down and watch stories about other people in sports," Ashburn says.

Sverdlik Brady was founded by former ABC/Comcast executive Roger Sverdlik and former Fox executive Chris Brady in September 2003.

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